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Despite a fall in the number of cases of UK travellers contracting malaria last year health experts are warning that risk of the disease is still high. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is today advising people planning on visiting exotic destinations this year to ensure they seek medical advice before they travel. Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease and affects 300 to 500 million people every year. Figures released by the HPA today show that there were 1,548 cases of malaria reported among UK travellers in 2007. Five of these cases were fatal. This represents a 12 per cent fall in the number of cases reported for 2006 by this time year (1,758). Over seven in ten of last year's cases were in travellers from the UK who were visiting friends and relatives abroad. Professor Peter Chiodini, head of the HPA's Malaria Reference Laboratory, said: "It seems likely that travellers visiting friends and relatives are either not seeking or unable to access good medical advice on preventing malaria before they travel, or they don't perceive their risk to be as great as the holidaying public. "The common misconception that people born in malaria-affected countries but now living in the UK continue to have a natural immunity to malaria is very dangerous." He added that "really important that anyone travelling to an area where malaria is a risk seeks medical advice before their trip".